The Centre has directed the state government to regulate onshore and offshore activities and mobilise evacuation from coastal areas of Saurashtra and Kutch districts, including Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Junagadh and Morbi.
As the powerful cyclonic storm Biparjoy is expected to make landfall in Gujarat on June 15, authorities will start evacuating people from villages located within 10km from the coast in Kutch-Saurashtra districts of Gujarat from today, said India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials.
Efforts are underway to mitigate the impact of the approaching cyclone, which is likely to make landfall near the Jakhau port in Kutch district on
Thursday afternoon with winds gusting up to 150 kilometres per hour, in the coastal districts through evacuation of people and suspension of activities in port areas, the officials said.
Around 7,500 people residing in low-lying areas near the coast have already been shifted to safer places in the state, they said.
Warning signals have been hoisted at ports and fishermen advised not to venture into the Arabian Sea. Fishermen out at the sea have been advised to return to the coast.
The Centre has directed the state government to regulate onshore and offshore activities and mobilise evacuation from coastal areas of Saurashtra and Kutch districts, including Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Junagadh and Morbi.
In New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed officials to ensure safe evacuation of people living in vulnerable locations in the path of the cyclone.
At a high-level meeting in New Delhi, PM Modi asked senior officers to take every possible measure to ensure people living in vulnerable locations are safely evacuated by the state government, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.
Gujarat Relief Commissioner Alok Pandey told reporters in Ahmedabad that the state government was constantly working to ensure there was no loss of life.
A dozen teams each of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed in the districts likely to be affected by the cyclone and arrangements made for accommodation, food and medicines of evacuated people, he said.
Besides, the Army, the Navy and the Indian Coast Guard have been kept on stand-by with the ICG undertaking evacuation of 50 personnel from oil drilling ship 'Key Singapore' off the coast near Dwarka.
Gujarat Relief Commissioner Alok Pandey said evacuation will be carried out in two phases beginning Tuesday with people residing 0 to 5 km from the seashore to be shifted first.
Thereafter, people living within a distance of 5 to 10 km from the coast will be moved to safer places and priority will be given to children, pregnant women and the elderly, said the senior bureaucrat.
The ICG said its regional headquarters has undertaken an operation to evacuate personnel from oil drilling ship 'Key Singapore'.
"The rig is 25 miles off Devbhumi Dwarka into an open sea amidst very rough sea conditions and inclement weather due to approaching extremely severe cyclone'Biparjoy'. ICG has pressed into service its advanced light helicopter MK III for the rescue ops and 50 personnel are being evacuated to Okha," it said in a statement.
Shipping activities at the country's largest public sector port at Kandla were shut following the cyclone warning and around 3,000 people, including workers there, were shifted to safer places, district administration officials said.
Hundreds of trucks piled up due to suspension of work at the Deendayal Port at Kandla in Kutch district in view of the approaching cyclone and warning signal hoisted there, they said.
"The port has been shut in view of signal 10 warning and all the boats, crafts and barges tied up properly at identified area and 24x7 control rooms set up. All workers and fishermen in low-lying areas have been evacuated," Deendayal Port Authority spokesperson Om Prakash Dadlani said.
Thousands of people residing in low-lying areas near the Arabian Sea coast have been shifted to safer places in the districts of Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka and Porbandar, and preparations have been made to evacuate thousands more from Tuesday, the officials said.
Around 7,500 people have been shifted to safer places. More than 3,000 people were evacuated from 31 villages in Porbandar, while in Devbhumi Dwarka, another 1,500 shifted to safer places, they said.
"Some 3,000 people, especially fishermen and labourers working at a port, were shifted in Kandla. Residents of some slums near the sea have also been moved in Mandvi. Around 23,000 people residing in villages within a radius of 10 km from the coast will be moved to (makeshift) shelter homes from Tuesday," Kutch collector Amit Arora said.
"VSCS Biparjoy lay centered at 0230 IST of the 13th June, 2023 over Northeast and adjoining Eastcentral Arabian Sea about 290 km southwest of Porbandar & 360 km south-southwest of Jakhau Port. To cross Saurashtra & Kutch near Jakhau Port by evening of 15th June as a VSCS.", the IMD said.
The IMD has warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with isolated extremely heavy rainfall in Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar on June 15.
A few places in other districts of the Saurashtra region close to the coast will receive heavy to very heavy rainfall, it said.
The IMD has said storm surge of about 2-3 metre above the astronomical tide is likely to inundate low-lying areas of some districts during the time of landfall, and wind speed may reach up to 190 kmph in the sea.
The met department has warned of wind speed of up to 120-130 kmph gusting to 145 kmph from the morning of June 15 when the cyclone is expected to make landfall.
Sea conditions are likely to remain rough to very rough till the evening of Wednesday, and high to phenomenal thereafter till the noon of June 15 before improving, it said.
In view of the impending cyclone, the NDRF has deployed two additional teams in Mumbai as a precautionary measure, an official said on Monday.
The NDRF teams, in addition to three already deployed in the metropolis, have been stationed at Andheri and Kanjurmarg areas in the western and eastern suburbs, respectively, he said.
(With PTI Inputs)